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• A feature extraction method from cellular events was proposed. • A work to combine and use them for traffic status detection based on cellular events. • We presented a traffic status detection method using cellular data. • The classification accuracies for proposed model achieves good results. Traffic status detection on arterial roads is challenging because of the complexity of urban traffic and the limited coverage and high deployment cost of traffic detectors. Ubiquitous mobile phones and data generated from the events of these mobile devices provide a promising approach for traffic status detection. This paper proposes a novel approach solely using cellular event data without the cellphone GPS information to detect traffic status on arterial roads. Different from the conventional methods, the proposed approach uses features derived only from cellular data to estimate traffic status, not requiring any cellphone location information. Both handoff (HO) and location update (LU) events generated at each cellular station were extracted from the original data to form a candidate feature set. A feature selection method based on joint mutual information (JMI) was used to select features to cover the maximum information, which can resolve issues such as loss of useful information caused by conventional feature selection techniques. A support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was then employed to model the relationship between the selected features and traffic status (low, medium, and high-traffic). Finally, the proposed method was validated by both a field experiment in Taicang, China with 1-hour-time-interval samples and a simulation experiment on VISSIM with 5-minute-time-interval samples. This study provides a new perspective for traffic status detection which may help design strategies for traffic management and route navigation to improve traveling efficiency, especially for the cities lack of traffic surveillance devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Background Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease discovered in China in 2009. In July 2013, the first human infection with SFTS virus (SFTSV) was detected in Shaanxi Province, Western China. Methods A seroprevalence study among humans was carried out in an SFTS endemic village; specifically, serum samples were collected from 363 farmers in an SFTS endemic village in Shaanxi Province. The presence of SFTSV antibodies in serum was determined using an ELISA. Results SFTSV antibodies were found in a total of 20 people (5.51%), with no significant difference between males and females (6.93% and 4.42%, respectively; Chi-square = 1.29, p = 0.25). Moreover, the SFTSV antibody positive rate was not significantly different across different age groups (Chi-square = 2.23, p = 0.69). Conclusions SFTSV readily infects humans with outdoor exposure. The results of the serological study indicate that the virus circulates widely in Shaanxi Province. SFTSV represents a public health threat in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The allele and haplotype frequencies of HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 loci in 10,000 healthy unrelated Han individuals living in the Guanzhong region of the Shaanxi Province were analyzed with the methods of SSO, SSP and SBT. Subsequently, these data were compared with results obtained in Han populations living in other regions as well as to other ethnic groups, using genetic distance measurements, neighbor-joining dendrograms and principal component analysis. In total 18 alleles were detected at the HLA-A locus, 46 alleles at the HLA-B locus and 14 alleles at the HLA-DRB1 locus. HLA-A*02 was the most common HLA-A allele (29.70%), followed by A*11 (18.70%), and A*24 (15.75%); whereas at the HLA-B locus, the allele with the highest frequency was HLA-B*13 (10.76 %), followed by B*46 (7.93%), B*51 (7.68%). At the HLA-DRB1 locus, the most common alleles were HLA-DRB1*15 (15.54%), DRB1*09 (13.18%) and DRB1*04 (11.21%). Three-loci haplotype analysis revealed that HLA A*30- B*13- DRB1*07 (4.11%), A*02 -B*46 -DRB1*09 (2.57%) and A*33 -B*58 -DRB1*17 (1.32%) were the most common haplotypes in this population. Four two-loci haplotypes, including HLA-A*30-B*43, A*30-B*53, B*43-DRB1*07 and B*73-DRB1*04 had significant linkage disequilibrium (relative linkage disequilibrium parameter equals to 1). Compared with other populations, our results indicated that the Han populations in different regions had a similar allelic diversity of HLA -A, -B, and -DRB1 loci. The Han population in the Guanzhong region of the Shaanxi Province had a close genetic relationship with the Northern and Southern Han populations. In summary, the similarities and differences of the HLA allelic diversity and haplotype structure between the Han population in the Guanzhong region and related populations, regarding HLA genotype distribution, provide basic information for further studies of the HLA heterogeneity and anthropological studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objectives: Rheumatic heart disease continues to be a common health problem in the developing countries. Though there is evidence indicating that rheumatic heart disease prevalence in China has decreased since the 1950s, no objective assessment of its present prevalence has been published. The study was designed to investigate the prevalence of chronic rheumatic heart disease in China. Methods: We performed a community population based investigation from October 2001 to February 2002 in nine communities of nine provinces in China by using a multistage, random sample design. Rheumatic heart disease was diagnosed by echocardiographic imaging. Long-axis views of the mitral valve, color flow recordings were used to search for mitral and aortic regurgitations. M-mode and two-dimensional short- and long-axis views of the aortic root and left atrium were recorded for supporting the diagnosis. Results: Of 9124 participants, 8652 completed the questionnaires and 8080 had comprehensive echocardiographic examinations. We found that 15 subjects had definite echocardiographic evidence of rheumatic heart disease. The rough prevalence of rheumatic heart disease was 186/100,000 adults (2 in 1000 adults). Conclusions: Rheumatic heart disease affected approximately 2 million middle-aged to elderly Chinese, thus constituting a significant health burden. We investigated only urban and suburban communities, the result may underestimate the real prevalence of the disease in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]